1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to toothbrushes, toothbrush holders, and soap dishes and in particular to a toothbrush, toothbrush holder and soap dish each having an imbedded image and/or message.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal care articles such as toothbrushes often have logos, messages, pictures, and the like on or in the handle or other portion of the toothbrush. Existing methods of providing such logos, messages, pictures, and the like on or in the article handles includes the use of decals, ink imprinting, laser imprinting, and labels applications. For toothbrushes, since toothpaste is an aggressive and abrasive substance, it is common that after using the toothbrush several times, the logos, messages, pictures, and the like wear or come off partially or entirely. It is desirable to provide the logos, messages, and pictures so that it will remain on the toothbrush despite heavy use around abrasive substances.
Toothbrushes are regularly held in toothbrush holders and used near soap dishes. Coordinated sets of toothbrush holders and soap dishes are commonly available. Although a toothbrush holder and soap dish may not be as frequently surrounded by or used in conjunction with abrasive substances such as toothpaste, it can still produce similar wear of any decorations applied to the articles.
Toothbrush holders present additional problems in that they can be difficult to clean, allowing for the accumulation of germs. Toothbrush holders are often made in one configuration, allowing limited flexibility in the number of toothbrushes that can be contained within the holder and not necessarily preventing the toothbrush heads from contacting one another.